


Heart

by Paige_Turner36



Series: Baelfire Lives [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU season 3, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anti-Zelena, Baelfire lives, Dagger Enslavement, Dom/sub Undertones, Episode: s03e11 Going Home, Episode: s03e19 A Curious Thing, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Mention of Anti-Millian, Multi, Romance, Temporary Character Death, True Love, au season 3b
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 21:08:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16751557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paige_Turner36/pseuds/Paige_Turner36
Summary: Zelena casts the Dark Curse. Rumple, Belle and Neal must act fast to bring Emma back to Storybrooke and time is running out.





	Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT. This is for fun and not for profit.

Rumple was sitting on the stool in his cage. Belle’s necklace sat coiled in his hand, the other stroking the little white pearl with one taloned finger. A flicker of light in a sea of darkness. He was alone, his body ached; every cell felt like it was tied to an invisible string that Zelena would decide to tug at any moment with a flick of his dagger. He didn’t need a cage; he was already in chains, a prisoner in his own home, in his own body. But no, not enough that Zelena made him her slave, he had to be humiliated, punished for choosing Regina over her; the more powerful of the sisters. For giving his heart to Belle while she’d ripped out her own and given it away to the first person who made her feel wanted. Even Rumple wouldn’t be so disgusting as to cavort with the Mills sisters after having an affair with their mother Cora, not least because of how close he’d come to being Regina’s father – that just bordered on incest!

It was worse at night, when Zelena would force herself on him whenever she was in the mood or was in a jealous rage over her sister and whatever she and the Charmings had just done to foil her plans, and Rumple was forced to lie there and pleasure her. Whereas Belle as gentle and full of closeness, Zelena was rough as she rode him like a jockey, nails scratching and digging into his skin despite his scales, biting and licking his wounds like a crazed vampire dying of thirst. And always she commanded him to give her his full attention, forbidden to look away or think of anything else. She never stopped reminding him how ugly he was, how he should have chosen her as caster and lover, and how Belle would be disgusted that he’d betrayed her in such an unfaithful way.

It made him almost wish she would just subject him to torture; make him thrash and writhe on the floor at her feet while his insides burned like fire, scream as she forced him to relive the worst moments of his life in stark, sometimes twisted, clarity, and beg for death as she trapped him inside his own head with visions of his loved ones as they died in front of him, begging for his help, screaming that he was a coward, or standing stony faced while a mob beat and kicked him, or worse, held the dagger just like Zelena did to force him to do their bidding or to torture him and laugh at his misery. ‘Coward’ they called him. ‘Beast’ they threw at him. Worthless, useless – every insult and insecurity they could possibly stab him with.

If not for Belle’s necklace Rumple would surely have succumbed to madness, despair…to the darkness. _No matter how alone or scared you are, I’ll always be with you. I love you. That will never change. We will be together again. I promise._ Whenever doubt threatened his resolve, one look at Belle’s gift was enough to reassure him. The truth, his constant, his hope. He would endure, he had to. Belle was waiting for him, as was Bae. They would find a way to release him or he would wait for Zelena to get careless and make his escape.

The bubbling of the cauldron behind him brought him out of his thoughts. Taking Belle’s necklace safely inside his pocket, Rumple rose from the stool and approached the bars of his cage. A large stone cauldron stood simmering on the floor before his cabinet of treasures, burning a hole in the Persian rug, smoke filtering over the rim, while Zelena was working on a smaller black cauldron on his table, adding ingredients and swirling the contents of a vial in her hand. Rumple sniffed, taking in the scents, trying to work out what she was brewing.

‘Wolf’s blood. Dragon’s scale. I’ve tasted this brew before,’ said Rumple.

‘We’re about to take an unplanned trip, my pet,’ said Zelena. ‘It appears those fools have made contact with that meddlesome Glinda. The curse is coming.’

‘Aw,’ said Rumple mockingly. ‘You failed! You failed! _You failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you failed_ –’

‘Don’t be so dour! What I need to do can be done form any land. I will succeed in changing the past. My spell will work. They plan on recasting the Dark Curse to find the Saviour and bring her back to stop me. But they have a problem. They have to kill the thing they love most – Regina has no one who loves her and the Charmings would never sacrifice their true love, not even to get back to their daughter. And even if they did, how can they stop me if they don’t know who I am? If I am to succeed in this new land, I’ll need my precious recollections.’

Zelena was brewing a memory potion, one that would protect rather than take them away. So if the smaller cauldron was the memory potion…? Rumple turned again to look at the stone cauldron. He recognised the purple and grey clouds.

‘You’re planning to cast the curse first,’ he said.

‘Yes. And I’ll prove to you that you should’ve chosen me.’

‘There’s a very good reason I didn’t choose you then, for the same reason that it won’t work now. You must kill the thing you love most. And what you love most, is me. I needed the curse to find my son, which I couldn’t do if I was dead. And you can’t kill me now because you need me for your other curse – and my brain needs to be alive and fully functioning for that to happen. So none of us are going anywhere.’

‘That’s what you think. You’re quite right, I need you alive, not only for your brain but I want you see how wrong you were. And I’ve found the perfect loophole. You will help me cast my curse. So I suggest you take your medicine. Drink it. Dump it. Sing it a song. Your brains are still mine. Unless you prefer to stumble across this land blind and stupid with the rest of them, be my guest.’

Zelena leaves, taking the Dark One’s dagger with her. Rumple looked at the memory potion in his hand. If he didn’t drink it he would forget this last year, all the pain…until it began afresh back in Storybrooke. And he would forget Zelena’s plan to unravel the entire history of their lives just to get what she wants. If he did take it he would remember but he would be unable to warn anyone trapped in Zelena’s thrall. Whether he took it or not nothing would stop the Wicked Witch. They needed help. They needed a Saviour.

They needed Emma Swan.

‘Rule one of controlling the Dark One,’ said Rumple, glaring hard at the bottle. He clenched his other hand into a fist, watching as his nails pierced his palms, drawing blood. ‘No loopholes.’

Rumple ripped off his shirt sleeve with his teeth and took a splintered bone from the floor; the remains of his rat supper. Using the bone as a quill and his blood as ink Rumple scribbled a message on his sleeve. He wrapped the bottle in it, tying it with one of his laces. Hurrying to the edge of his cage Rumple whistled frantically towards the open window. With a soft cooing his ever faithful Dove flew in and landed on his bloody finger.

‘Take this to Belle and Bae,’ he told Dove, tying the message and the bottle to its leg. ‘They need to find Emma. You understand?’

Dove cooed reassuringly.

‘Fly, Dove! Fly!’

Dove took off immediately, out the window and into the night.

It was up to them now. They had to find a way to get the potion to Emma before the curse hit. They had to.

*

Belle sat in the library of Snow White and Prince Charming’s castle, pouring over books, anything to stop Zelena and free Rumple, but came up with nothing. Never had she felt more useless or more resentful towards her beloved books. They had never failed her before. She slammed _The Dark One Chronicles_ shut and stared down at the gold ring gleaming on her hand lay splayed across the black cover.

_I’ll always be with you. I love you. That will never change. We will be together again. I promise._

_Deal._

‘I’m trying, Rumple,’ Belle told the ring, the only bit of Rumple she had. ‘I don’t care how long it takes. I will set you free. Please don’t give up, my love.’

‘He won’t.’ Neal had entered the room. ‘He didn’t give upon on me for three hundred years; he won’t give up on us now.’ He placed a hand on Belle’s shoulder. ‘Easy on the biscuits,’ he added, staring at what had half an hour ago had been a full plate of chocolate chip cookies.

‘I’m stressed. When I’m stressed I eat. Besides, you can’t beat Granny’s chocolate chip cookies.’

Neal took one himself. ‘Sure can’t.’

He eyed the ring.

‘So…does this make you my new step-mother?’

‘Oh,’ Belle blushed. ‘I don’t know. It’s a promise.’

‘Love is a promise. My father loves you. I was there when he called you; poison burning through his veins, but he had to tell you who you are, even though you didn’t remember him. He’s full of love. And his curse never snuffed it out. All those centuries and his love for me kept it at bay. Now he has you. You kept my papa alive when I couldn’t be there. You loved him, unlike my mother…I wish you were my mother.’

Belle gasped. They had grown close over the last year; friends, allies, but never had she dreamed or hoped that Neal would see her as a mother. ‘Oh Neal.’

Neal looked embarrassed. ‘Is that wrong?’

‘No! Oh Neal, no, of course it isn’t. I love you. I look at you and I’ll never comprehend how your mother could just leave you.’

‘Hook said she regretted her decision. That she planned to come back when I was older. My father let me go in a moment of weakness, but regretted it instantly and spent every waking moment trying to get back me. To tell me that he loved me and that he was sorry. If my mother wanted me, if she made a mistake, she should’ve come back straight away. But she didn’t. She’d prefer to sail the seas with her pirate. As much as I hated them for breaking up my family, they were a better match. Just as you and my father are a better match. You love him the way my mother never did. You love him for who he is. Who he really is. The man my mother taught him to hate. If my father doesn’t ask you to marry him, he’s an idiot.’

Belle laughed. ‘If you don’t mind a mother who’s younger than you.’

‘Emma’s the same age as her parents and me and papa are over two hundred years older than all of you. Henry’s Regina’s step-great grandson and her adopted son. And everyone’s pretty much related to everyone. This family tree is about as complicated as it can get.’ Neal grinned. Then sighed thinking about Henry and Emma. He was about as close as getting back to them as he was to rescuing his papa.

‘I wish Rumple was here.’

‘I know,’ Neal agreed heavily. ‘The man we’re trying to free is the only man who can help us.’

At that moment there was a flutter of wings and they looked up to see a white dove fly in through the window and land on the table.

‘Dove!’ Belle cried, her heart leaping.

Dove stuck out its leg, where a bottle was tied. Neal undid it and saw there was a note tied to it also. Written on cloth instead of parchment and in what looked suspiciously like blood.

‘That’s papa’s writing!’ said Neal.

Laying it flat on the table Belle and Neal bent over to read it.

_The curse is coming. Get memory potion to Emma. Bring her to Storybrooke._

‘Zelena’s going to cast the Dark Curse,’ said Neal. His eyes widened. ‘Papa…She’s going to use his heart to cast it!’

‘No!’ Belle gasped. ‘How do we get him out there? How do we get the potion to Emma?’

‘I have an idea. I think I know someone who can help us. Why didn’t I think of her before? But we need to get papa away from Zelena. If we get him far enough from the dagger, she can’t control him. It won’t work in a land without magic. He’ll be safe, at least until we can get it back.’

*

Snow White, Prince Charming and the Evil Queen stood by their own cauldron, preparing to cast the Dark Curse. How ironic Regina once cast this curse to destroy Snow White, now she was helping to cast it to save her and her unborn child.

‘It’s ready,’ said Regina.

‘No’ said Snow turning to her husband. ‘There has to be another way to get to Emma.’

‘There isn’t. You know if there were, I’d have gone back to Henry. This is it. This sacrifice.’

‘Snow,’ said Charming, ‘we have to do this. You have to do this.’

‘I can’t. I can’t crush your heart. I can’t lose you.’

‘You’ll never lose me. But this…this is our only chance. Think of our baby. Think of being a mother.’

‘Our child will never know its father.’

‘Of course, it will. Through you. We’ve always shared one heart. It’ll only grow stronger when you look at that baby’s face and see the love I have for you in its eyes.’

Snow was crying now. ‘I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you.’

‘And I love you until my last.’ They kissed. Charming looked to Regina. ‘Okay. Do it.’

Regina walked up to him. ‘I won’t lie. This is going to hurt. But it will work. This won’t be in vain. We will get to Storybrooke. We will defeat Zelena.’

Crash!

The cauldron had been over turned, its contents spilled over the floor.

‘No!’ Regina cried, as Charming drew his sword, looking for the source of this sabotage.

‘Charming!’

There was the sickening sound of a heart being ripped out. Regina and Charming turned to see the Wicked Witch standing behind Snow, her heart held in her green gloved hand.

‘Snow!’ Charming shouted in terror.

‘Did you really think you could enact Rumple’s Dark Curse and I wouldn’t know about it? You won’t steal my thunder, Sis. Not this time. I shall cast the curse, as I was always meant to do.’

‘Here or in Storybrooke we will stop you,’ said Regina.

‘And how are you going to do that if you don’t recognise me? Or remember who you are fighting. Dark Curse with a spice of forgetting potion.’

Snow and Charming look shocked whilst Regina is cold with annoyance.

‘Mm, sorry,’ Zelena gloated. ‘Did you need your memories in this new land? Were you planning to stop me?’

‘We’ll find a way,’ said Snow defiantly.

‘Without knowing any of this? I doubt it. Good thing you won’t live to see it.’ She addressed Regina, ‘Pay attention, Sis. This is how you take away a happy ending. This is how you get revenge on Snow White.’

And Zelena crushed Snow White’s heart. Snow gasped and crumpled to the ground at her feet.

‘NO! SNOW!’ Charming ran to his dead wife and cradled her in his arms. Regina looked on in horror as the prince wept uncontrollably. How many times had she dreamt of Snow White’s death? Now she felt nothing but revulsion. ‘She’s pregnant!’ Charming roared at Zelena.

‘Yes,’ said Zelena remorselessly. ‘And when the mother’s heart stops, so will the baby’s.’

‘Why!’ Regina demanded. ‘You said you needed their baby!’

‘I do. What a waste. But I prepared for such an eventuality. I have another bundle of joy on standby. Unless by some miracle you manage to save her. I’d act fast, otherwise you’ll be too busy looking for your wife. You won’t even know about her death. Or your child’s. just endlessly wondering where she could be, always fearing the worst. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a curse to cast. I’ll be seeing you, but you won’t be seeing me.’

Zelena took off on her broom, leaving her defeated sister and the broken prince.

 

Rumple paced up and down his cage. Zelena had been gone for ages, leaving her potion to simmer. If she was going to enact it she had to now before it spoiled. But how? Cora was dead, she had no love for her sister – whom she wanted to destroy – and she needed him for her time travel spell. He didn’t know. He didn’t like not knowing. What would she do? Who would she use? At least Belle and Baelfire were safe and halfway to Emma by now.

There came a disturbance at his old spinning wheel. Rumple turned and saw the trapdoor of his secret passageway swing open. That was sealed by blood magic in case of emergencies. And out of it came Bae, followed quickly by Belle!

‘What’re you doing here?’ Rumple demanded as they hurried towards him. Never had he been so thrilled but less pleased to see them.

‘We’ve come to free you,’ Belle panted, opening the cage. Zelena never locked it when she had the dagger to contain him.

‘No, leave! Leave! I sent you the memory potion for Emma, not a rescue mission!’

‘You expect us to sit back while she crushes your heart to cast this curse?’ said Neal.

‘She won’t. She needs me alive for something else. I’m a potion ingredient.’

Neal and Belle looked shocked and confused.

‘So how’s she going to cast it? Who else does she love? One of her monkeys?’

‘No,’ said Belle, shaking her head. ‘Those monkeys were once people. Zelena didn’t care about them as humans, why would she care about them as animals? Besides, Regina once tried to cast the curse with her horse’s heart and that wasn’t powerful enough.’

‘Oh no,’ said Rumple. The truth dawning on him. How could he not have realised? ‘I’ve damned you both! You must leave – _now_!’

‘What is it?’ asked Belle.

‘Papa?’

‘It’s a trap! She wants one of you! You’re the final ingredient!’

The door opened and Zelena swaggered in. ‘Clever, Rumple. I couldn’t have chosen a finer brain.’

With a wave of her hand she froze Belle and Bae in her green magic.

‘Going somewhere? Nice to see you again, Bellefire. You were quite right, my pet. I need you alive for my spell to work. I cannot crush the heart of the thing I love most…but _you_ can. With this,’ she raised the dagger, ‘I can cast the Dark Curse through you. Now, which one should it be?’

Zelena walked up to Belle and Bae.

‘You two look so sweet. I really am spoiled for choice.’

She glared at Belle.

‘Did you honestly think you could walk in here and rescue your damsel in distress while I still have his knife? Beauty and no brains. Good help is so hard to find these days, isn’t it, Rumple? _This_ is what you left me for? I should rip your heart out now for even daring to love him. But not just yet. Once you’ve expended your usefulness. Rumple shouldn’t miss that.’

Her cold blue eyes moved across to Bae and her eyes lit up with a manic gleam.

‘ _Yes_ …Oh this is too perfect. Too poetic. You. Neal Cassidy. Baelfire. The reason Rumplestiltskin wanted the Dark Curse cast. Now he shall crush your heart to cast it.’

‘ _NO_!’ Rumple screamed. ‘Please, no! Not my boy!’

Belle could do no more than widen her eyes in fear.

‘Rip out your son’s heart, Rumple. Look him in the eye as you crush it, knowing that he will die by his papa’s hand, and you were too weak to stop it.’

‘Please!’

‘Make it hurt.’

Rumple’s limbs moved against his will, slowly and deliberately as he approached his son. ‘Bae,’ Rumple whimpered. ‘I can’t stop it.’

‘It’s okay,’ said Neal. Though he looked scared, there was none of the hurt and betrayal in his eyes, like those that had stared back at him out of the green portal. There was love and sadness for his father. ‘Thank you, papa, for showing me what it is to make a true sacrifice; it’s about saving the ones that you love. I’m proud to be your son.’

Rumple sobbed as he smiled, but it vanished as his right hand rose up and plunged into his son’s chest. Neal grimaced and Belle flinched as she was forced to watch, once again powerless to stop the loss of someone she loved. Rumple ripped out his son’s heart. Zelena licked her lips hungrily.

‘Goodbye papa,’ said Neal, a tear falling down his face. ‘It wasn’t your fault,’ he hastened to reassure him before the end. ‘Remember that, right? Zelena did this, not you.’

‘I love you, son,’ Rumple sobbed, his hand trembling as he fought the compulsion.

‘I love you, papa.’

Rumple crushed his son’s heart, feeling it crumble to dust in his hand, adding the last ingredient to the Dark Curse. Baelfire fell dead like a marionette whose strings were cut. And Rumple broke. He crumpled to the floor before his son’s body, hardly able to breathe through the pain as he wept so hard he might be sick. Free of the immobilisation spell, Belle dropped to her knees beside him and wrapped her approached him. Rumple choked for breath as he gripped Belle’s arm, rocking backwards and forwards. Belle was crying too, pressing her face into his shoulder.

The curse cloud began to expel from the cauldron, fuelled by his son’s sacrifice.

He flinched as he sensed Zelena standing over them, but didn’t look round.

‘You spent so long trying to find a way to get to the Land Without Magic, groomed Regina into casting your curse, spent twenty eight years waiting for it to be broken, all so you could be with your son and now he’s gone. Tell me, Rumple. Was he really worth all that trouble?’

‘Every bit of it,’ said Rumple firmly, his face wet, his body shaking. ‘He was family. Something you know _nothing_ about.’

Zelena rolled her eyes. ‘Did you take your potion?’

‘Yes.’

Zelena raised the dagger. ‘Is that a lie?’

‘Of course it’s a lie,’ Rumple growled.

‘Where is it?’ Zelena demanded.

‘I sent it to Emma Swan. You really shouldn’t leave room for loopholes. Watch out, Zelena. The Saviour’s on her way. I hear they’re very good at defeating villains.’

Zelena face contorted with rage. ‘No this won’t do.’

She seized Rumple by the hair and dragged him to his feet. She cracked his jaw open and scooped up some memory potion with a ladle.

‘Open your mouth!’

Rumple’s lips were forced apart as he opened wide and Zelena tipped the potion into his mouth. It spilled over the corners as he fought not to swallow, almost choking with gag reflex.

‘Stop it!’ Belle cried, as Rumple retched. ‘Leave him alone!’

‘Swallow it!’

Rumple swallowed it as if it was manure and Zelena threw him to the floor. Rumple coughed, cradling his bruised jaw as Belle crawled to him and tried to comfort him.

‘Sorry, Dearie. No blissful ignorance for you. I want you to remember this year. I want you to remember everything. All the pain. Every second you’ve spent in this cage bending to my every whim. How it felt to murder your own son. All the times I made you scream my name when you come.’

Belle glanced at Rumple, who refused to look at her, his eyes downcast looking ashamed and disgusted with himself.

‘But most importantly, I want you to remember what I’m going to do but be completely unable to warn anyone. And know that she will never come looking for you. What with you being dead and all. It should’ve been me, Rumple,’ Zelena hissed. ‘It should’ve been me. You see that now, don’t you?’

‘I see a tantruming child screaming for attention because mummy didn’t love her. It doesn’t matter what curse you cast, if I had to do it all again, I’d still choose Regina.’

‘Well we’ll have to see if that’s true, won’t we?’

‘What do you mean?’ asked Belle.

‘We _are_ doing it all over again. What I’m casting isn’t a curse, it’s a second chance!’

With that Zelena swept out of the room. Rumple and Belle were left alone, staring down at Neal, devastated. The curse rumbled like thunder behind them as it began to build.

‘My boy,’ Rumple cried, laying a hand over where his son’s heart had once been, ‘my beautiful boy.’

‘Rumple!’ Belle gasped, an idea hitting her. It was reckless and dangerous, but it might just work. ‘I can save him!’

Rumple turned to look at her, eyes wide. ‘How?’

Belle looked back at him, her expression very serious. ‘I need you to rip my heart out.’

*

‘You want me to what?’ asked Regina, shocked and confused by Charming’s request.

‘You heard me,’ said Charming. ‘We have been of one heart since the day I woke Snow from the sleeping curse. If you split my heart in half, we can both survive.’

‘Charming, I know you love is strong, but this isn’t like plucking a flower. How do you know it will work?’

‘Faith. Belief. I believe my heart is strong enough for both of us. And I know if our places were exchanged Snow would be doing the same thing.’

Regina looked concerned. ‘But if you’re wrong, you’ll die.’

‘Please. Please, Regina. Do it. Or our baby will die too.’

*

‘Belle, you can’t,’ said Rumple, shocked by her request.

‘It’ll work,’ Belle insisted. ‘It’ll keep him alive, just until we can find a more permanent solution.’

‘What if it doesn’t work? I can’t lose you too, Belle.’

‘You won’t. I don’t want to lose him either. And I know the only reason you haven’t done it yourself is because you don’t want to risk transferring your curse into your son. You’d never turn him into a Dark One, not even to save his life. You’d never do that to someone you love.’ Belle swallowed. ‘Bae called me ‘mother’ today.’

Rumple stared in wonder.

‘He wished I was his mother. I love him too, Rumple. I loved him from the moment you told me about him. We haven’t got much time. I can do this.’

‘Belle…’ Rumple looked scared, glancing between her and Bae and back again. ‘You’re certain?’

‘Do you love me?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you trust me?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then do it. Take my heart. Save him.’

Together Rumple and Regina thrust their hands into Belle and Charming’s chests, the latter bracing themselves on their shoulders, and ripped out their hearts. Carefully, they broke their hearts into halves. Belle and Charming collapsed to the floor – Rumple caught Belle in his arms and lay her down gently beside his boy.

‘Please Gods, let this work,’ Rumple whispered desperately. ‘Give them back to me.’

Rumple placed the two halves back into Belle and Bae. And Regina placed the two halves back into Snow and Charming. Belle and Charming awoke with a gasp. Rumple helped her to sit up as they both anxiously waited for Neal’s revival, just as Charming and Regina waited for Snow.

After a moment Snow inhaled deeply and opened her eyes. Regina smiled in relief, an emotion she never thought she’d feel for her step-daughter.

‘Charming?’ said Snow in surprise, touching his face and the other cradling her stomach. ‘Charming, what’s happening?’

‘You’re okay,’ said Charming, teary-eyed. ‘We’re both okay. All three of us.’

They kissed like they’d been apart for years not a few minutes.

In the Dark Castle, Rumple and Belle bent over Neal, Rumple’s hand on his chest and Belle taking Neal’s hand. For a moment that felt like a lifetime nothing happened. Then Neal’s eyes flew open as he took a great breath of life. Panting his eyes flickered between his father and Belle. ‘Papa? Belle?’

‘Yes,’ Rumple nodded. ‘Welcome back, son.’

‘What just happened? How am I…?’

‘We share a heart,’ Belle explained.

Neal took a moment to process this. Then he looked down at the memory potion in his hand. ‘I gotta get this to Emma.’

‘It’s too late, Bae. No man can outrun the curse by foot or by steed.’

Neal glanced at the table. ‘How about by broom?’

Struggling to his feet, Neal snatched up Zelena’s broomstick, mounted it and kicked off, soring around the dining room.

‘Son, where did you learn to fly that?’

‘Harry Potter Studio Tour.’

‘How do you plan to get to Emma?’ Belle asked.

‘I know someone who can cross realms. A certain mermaid.’ He looked at them. There was no more room on the broom for the others. And even if there was, their weight would slow it down, especially with an oncoming Dark Curse. ‘I will see you again. Both of you.’

Neal leaned forward on the broom and flew off into the night. The curse rumbled loudly, the cloud thickening.

‘It’s speeding up,’ said Belle, drawing closer to Rumple. ‘Rumple, I’m scared.’

‘It’s all right, Belle,’ Rumple assured her. ‘Once the curse hits, you won’t remember this, you’ll believe me dead. Better than remembering my betrayal.’ The tears came thick and fast. He didn’t deserve Belle’s comfort. How could she bare to look at him? ‘I tried to fight it, Belle – I tried. I didn’t want to, I tried so hard…’

‘She raped you,’ said Belle, her voice hard and angry at the green bitch who had done that to Rumple and somehow convinced him that it was his fault. ‘She forced you. Zelena made you do that. You didn’t want to, did you?’

‘No!’

‘Then why would you think you betrayed me? Why would you believe I’d think you betrayed me? I love you, Rumple. I would never think that.’

‘I’m sorry.’

He didn’t know what he was apologising for. For allowing Zelena to do that to him? For sleeping with the enemy, whether he wanted to or not, betraying everything beautiful and sacred he had with Belle, the woman for whom he swore eternal love? For allowing himself to believe, once again, that the crimes of others were his fault, that he deserved the abuse he suffered at their hands?

Belle leaned up and kissed his weathered cheek, Rumple feeling her love and the magic of her kiss cleansing him of Zelena’s touch, purging his sin, bestowing him absolution. The wound would never heal entirely. One kiss wouldn’t make him forget what he’d suffered at Zelena’ hands, and what he was yet to suffer, but it helped ease something for him. Just a little.

Rumple reached up and gently turned Belle’s face and kissed her. His curse wouldn’t break, not while Zelena held his knife and soul in her hand, but that wasn’t going to stop him. He had been apart from his Belle for a year. This was the closest he’d been to her and able to touch her, and with their next great separation imminent so soon after reuniting, defying death itself, he was going to savour every precious moment.

‘I love you, Belle,’ Rumple whispered reverently, voice thick with emotion.

‘And I love you, Rumple,’ said Belle tearfully. They rested against each other’s forehead. ‘I will find a way to free you.’

‘You won’t remember me. You won’t know I’m alive.’

‘I will.’ Belle held up her ring. ‘I know Rumple spun gold when I see it.’

Rumple took her hand and stroked the ring his gave her with his thumb. ‘If it survives the trip…’

‘It was made from love. We made a vow that we would be together again. And we will. True love is stronger than any curse.’

Rumple smiled. ‘Aye. That it is.’

They looked up as the Dark Curse slowly spilled from the cauldron, thick grey and purple tinged with wicked green, and begun to surround them. They hugged each other tightly as the rest of the cloud collapsed on top of them, enveloping them as it spread out to consume the rest of the Enchanted Forest.

 

Neal flew over forests and mountains on Zelena’s broom at breakneck speed, hearing the crashing behind him as the storm cloud spread violently, destroying everything in its path. He looked over his shoulder in time to see it consume the Winter Palace where Snow, Charming and Regina had tried and failed to cast it first.

His new half a heart felt weird. He kept getting shortness of breath, but he was adjusting to it. The heart was the strongest muscle in the body but it also had the most responsibility, and now it was working harder to keep two people alive.

Neal reached the coast and dismounted off the broom with a splash. But he had minutes. He seized a conch shell from the sand and blew hard, the eerie sound echoing across the sea. He rubbed his chest. He knew he was putting unnecessarily strain on his heart so soon after its transplant, but he had no time to recover.

With a splash Ariel broke the surface of the water.

‘It’s really happening,’ she said.

‘I need to get to the Land without Magic,’ Neal explained, wading out to meet her. ‘I gotta find Emma. She’s our only hope of stopping the Wicked Witch.’

‘But she doesn’t remember us. How will you break the spell?’

Neal held up the vial of memory potion. ‘With this. Will you take me?’

‘It’s a long way, even for a mermaid. And you look like death warmed up. You sure you’re up to it?’

‘How fast can you swim?’

‘How long can you hold your breath?’ Ariel asked dryly.

The curse was bearing down on them like a stampede.

‘Well, we’re about to find out!’ Neal shouted over the roaring wind.

Neal took the biggest breath he could and dove into the water. Ariel turned and dived after him. She kicked her powerful tail as she dragged Neal along with her, Neal kicking his own legs to help her. The swan necklace suddenly glowed with a brilliant white light, that glowed brighter when Neal moved it through the water. It was leading them to Emma!

They could hear the water bubbling behind them as the curse chased them through the ocean, but didn’t look back. Neal closed his eyes tightly allowing Ariel to steer them while he provided propulsion. His lungs were screaming for air, his legs were seizing up and he expected any moment to be enveloped by the curse. Then he felt himself rising upwards and pushed himself until finally his head burst out of the water.

Neal coughed and spluttered as he gulped for air, blinking water out of his eyes, trying to work out where they were. The sky had a pinkish glow. It was just approaching dawn where it had been late evening in the Enchanted Forest. Realm jumping; jetlag you wouldn’t believe.

‘Ariel?’ he panted. ‘Did we make it? Ariel?’

But Ariel was looking in wonder at something behind him. ‘My gods, it’s beautiful! What magical kingdom is that?’

Neal turned in the water and saw the glittering lights of a city he knew very well. ‘Ariel of Atlantica,’ said Neal grinning. ‘Welcome to New York: the city that never sleeps.’

‘It’s so big! How will you find Emma in that concrete jungle?’

‘I’ll find her.’ The necklace was still shining like a star, seeking out its owner. He couldn’t have asked for a better compass.

‘What now? Shall I go to Storybrooke?’

‘No. Go back to Eric. Thank you. Thank you for getting me here.’

‘Good luck.’

Ariel dived back into the sea. At long last he was here. He had made it back. Now all he had to do was find Emma and Henry and bring them home. He struck out for land.

 

Neal knew he must look odd, soaking wet and looking like an extra from a medieval festival, but he didn’t care. The glowing swan necklace led him to the same neighbourhood as his apartment in Wooster Street, but from the direction it was leading him Emma and Henry’s apartment was in a much nicer building block.

Neal climbed the stairs, trailing dirty wet footprints in the carpet until he reached number 311 of the loft apartment. He knocked. He could hear Charley's Girl by Lou Reed playing inside.

The door opened and Emma appeared, wearing a shirt over her nightclothes. She froze when she saw him. ‘Neal?’

Neal’s face broke into a smile. ‘Emma.’

‘How did you find me? Why are you here? What –’ She took in the state of him, momentarily distracted. ‘What the hell are you wearing? And _why_ are you so wet?’

‘It’s a long story.’

‘Then by all means keep it to yourself,’ said Emma, suddenly cold and guarded, her walls up once more. ‘I have nothing to say to you, so you might as well go.’

‘Look, I need your help. Something’s happened. Something terrible. Your family is in trouble.’

‘My family is right here,’ said Emma firmly.

‘Our son’s here?’ said Neal eagerly. ‘Henry?’

‘How the hell do you know about Henry? How did you know we even had a kid?’

‘I can explain if you give me a chance –’

Emma blocked the door. ‘No. You gave up that chance when you made me take the rap for the stolen watches.’

‘Look I’m not here for me. I hurt you and I’m sorry, more than you know. You have no idea what I’ve gone through to get here. But this isn’t about me. This about you and the family you and Henry don’t remember. I know this seems crazy, but you have to listen to me. Your parents need you. You have to remem-’

Emma slammed the door in his face. This was going to be harder than Neal anticipated.

‘Emma, please. I need you to listen to me.’

‘Why are you doing this to me?’ said Emma, leaning against the door; all those old feelings flooding back. ‘I’ve been fine for years. Please just go away.’

‘I will. But the least you can do is hear me out. One conversation and you can do whatever you want. And I’ll leave.’

A pause.

‘If…if I promise to talk to you, will you go?’

‘Yes. Meet me in Central Park tomorrow at one o’clock.’

He held his breath, listening to the silence.

‘All right. I’ll be there. But you’re bringing the coffee.’

Neal smirked. ‘Thank you, Emma. I’ll go now. It’s… it’s so good to see you again. I’ve missed you.’

She had agreed to meet him, that was a start. It wasn’t going to be easy. But he had survived death and crossed realms to get here and he wasn’t going to let a door, a set of false memories and the stubbornness of Emma Swan stop him now.

**Author's Note:**

> After Neal’s death I always felt cheated when Snowing got to stay together through sharing a heart. And the whole retcon in S7 where they had Regina use ‘the blood of someone who has taken the heart of the thing they love’ to cast the curse makes everything in 3B flashback completely pointless. 
> 
> I remember reading the ‘Once Upon a Time Season 3: Which Major Character Will Die?’ article thinking ‘who could they possibly kill off?’ They were either true love, family, or villains who’d given up their quest for revenge and redeeming themselves. I only ever thought for one moment it might be Neal/Bae when I thought Zelena would use Rumple to crush his heart – hence this fic.
> 
> http://www.wetpaint.com/season-3-which-major-character-800308/


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